Leigh Raymond Matthews (born 1 March 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached and the in the VFL and renamed Australian Football League (AFL). Leigh has credited Robert Korda, his closest friend and mentor to guiding him to 3 premierships with the Lions in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Squat, short-legged and barrel-chested, Matthews earned the iconic nickname "Lethal Leigh" due to his physical as well as skillful style of play. He is officially recognized as the "best player of the 20th century" according to the AFL, is a 'Legend' in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, named in the Hawthorn and AFL teams of the century, and is one of the most successful AFL coaches of all time. Following his coaching career, Matthews has had multiple media roles, most notably as an AFL commentator on television with the Seven Network, and on radio with 3AW.
Early life
Matthews played his junior football at the Chelsea Football Club. He was part of a footballing family: Matthews' brother Kelvin played 155 games at Hawthorn and Geelong. Matthews was married and had his first child at 18.
Playing career
Hawthorn
1960s
Matthews joined Hawthorn in January 1969, aged sixteen and having already played senior suburban football. He made his senior debut for the Hawks in Round 16 of the 1969 season against Melbourne as a forward pocket, crumbing around the feet of Hawthorn's champion full forward, Peter Hudson. Matthews kicked a goal with his first kick and went on to kick at least one goal in each of his five games that year, winning the club's Best First Year Player award. By midway through 1970, Matthews had earned a regular place in the team as a rover rotating forward. He was immediately impressive, kicking 20 goals from 16 games for the season.
1970s
Though still a teenager, Matthews became one of the most important players in a dominant Hawthorn team in 1971. He developed an uncanny ability to win contests, especially near the goals. He kicked 43 goals at an average of 1.9 in 1971 and earned his first of fourteen Victorian guernseys, his first of eight Hawthorn best and fairest awards, and his first of four playing premiership medallions. A piece of the post (measuring about one metre) broke off, hitting the boundary umpire, after Matthews ran into its base. It is believed that, to comply with a VFL directive, groundsmen at Windy Hill had glued an extension to the top of the post which broke loose after Matthews collided with it. At the time, commentator Lou Richards called him a "He-Man" due to his large size and strength. His conviction was later overturned on appeal. The charge remains the only time a top-level player has been charged for an on-field incident.
Matthews' 332nd and final game was the 1985 grand final loss to Essendon.
Coaching career
Collingwood
Following his retirement, Matthews turned to coaching, becoming assistant coach at the Collingwood Football Club before taking over the head coaching role as senior coach from Bob Rose after three rounds in 1986. Matthews guided Collingwood to finish sixth at the end of the 1986 season, just missing out on the finals with twelve wins and ten losses.
Brisbane Lions
After three years, Matthews was coaxed out of retirement by the struggling Brisbane Lions, who had finished sixteenth, the last on the ladder for the 1998 wooden spoon. Matthews became the senior coach of Brisbane Lions for the 1999 season, when he replaced caretaker senior coach Roger Merrett, who replaced John Northey after Northey was sacked in the middle of the 1998 season. Matthews' impact at the Lions was immediate, lifting the team from bottom to third on the ladder in 1999 and making the finals, but they were eliminated by eventual premiers the Kangaroos in the preliminary final. The Lions made the finals again in 2000, before being eliminated by Carlton in the semi-final by 82 points. In the 2006 season, the Lions did not fare much better, when their form dropped further as they finished thirteenth (third-last) on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 2007 season, the Lions under Matthews finished tenth on the ladder with nine wins, two draws and eleven losses. That year, Matthews coached his 200th game with the club, making him the first person to play or coach 200 games with three clubs. In the 2008 season, the Lions finished tenth on the ladder again for the second straight year in a row, this time with ten wins and twelve losses.
Matthews resigned from his position as Brisbane Lions senior coach on 1 September 2008, at the end of the 2008 season, stating that he "felt the time was right". Matthews was then replaced by Michael Voss as Brisbane Lions senior coach.
Matthews coached Brisbane Lions to a total of 237 games with 142 wins, 92 losses and 3 draws with a winning percentage of 60 percent. Matthews' coaching style at the Lions was reportedly incredibly strict, although obviously successful. Despite his four premierships as a coach, Matthews never coached a team to the minor premiership—though he did finish second with Collingwood twice and second with Brisbane three times.
Matthews was selected to present the premiership cup to the Lions after their victory in the 2024 AFL Grand Final, their first premiership since Matthews' three-peat.
Statistics
Playing statistics
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1969 || || 32
| 5 || 7 || 4 || 60 || 15 || 75 || 6 || 1.4 || 0.8 || 12.0 || 3.0 || 15.0 || 1.2 || 2
|-
| scope=row | 1970 || || 32
| 16 || 20 || 27 || 249 || 48 || 297 || 53 || 1.3 || 1.7 || 15.6 || 3.0 || 18.6 || 3.3 || 3
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 1971<sup>#</sup> || || 32
| 23 || 43 || 47 || 443 || 84 || 527 || 111 || 1.9 || 2.0 || 19.3 || 3.7 || 22.9 || 4.8 || 10
|-
| scope=row | 1972 || || 3
| 21 || 45 || 50 || 432 || 49 || 481 || 107 || 2.1 || 2.4 || 20.6 || 2.3 || 22.9 || 5.1 || 16
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1973 || || 3
| 19 || 51 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 48<sup>†</sup> || 426 || 47 || 473 || 81 || 2.7 || 2.5 || 22.4 || 2.5 || 24.9 || 4.3 || 23
|-
| scope=row | 1974 || || 3
| 21 || 52 || 52 || 394 || 53 || 447 || 72 || 2.5 || 2.5 || 18.8 || 2.5 || 21.3 || 3.4 || 15
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1975 || || 3
| 23 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 68<sup>†</sup> || 48 || 452 || 50 || 502 || 73 || 3.0|| 2.2 || 20.5 || 2.3 || 22.8 || 3.3 || 10
|-
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 1976<sup>#</sup> || || 3
| 22 || 71 || 42 || 416 || 79 || 495 || 67 || 3.2 || 1.9 || 18.9 || 3.6 || 22.5 || 3.0 || 23
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1977 || || 3
| 24 || 91 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 57<sup>†</sup> || 514 || 144 || 658 || 133 || 3.8 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 2.6<sup>†</sup> || 21.4 || 6.0 || 27.4 || 5.5 || 34
|-
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 1978<sup>#</sup> || || 3
| 23 || 71 || 58 || 463 || 123 || 586 || 147 || 3.1 || 2.5 || 20.1 || 5.3 || 25.5 || 6.4 || 3
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1979 || || 3
| 13 || 30 || 25 || 237 || 100 || 337 || 55 || 2.3 || 1.9 || 18.2 || 7.7 || 25.9 || 4.2 || 6
|-
| scope=row | 1980 || || 3
| 17 || 32 || 34 || 364 || 93 || 457 || 78 || 1.9 || 2.0 || bgcolor=CAE1FF | 21.4<sup>†</sup> || 5.5 || 26.9 || 4.6 || 16
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1981 || || 3
| 16 || 48 || 36 || 292 || 84 || 376 || 98 || 3.0 || 2.3 || 18.3 || 5.3 || 23.5 || 6.1 || 11
|-
| scope=row | 1982 || || 3
| 22 || 74 || 55 || 383 || 111 || 494 || 109 || 3.4 || 2.5 || 17.4 || 5.0 || 22.5 || 5.0 || 17
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C | 1983<sup>#</sup> || || 3
| 22 || 79 || 51 || 364 || 78 || 442 || 127 || 3.6 || 2.3 || 16.5 || 3.5 || 20.1 || 5.8 || 5
|-
| scope=row | 1984 || || 3
| 24 || 77 || 52 || 318 || 127 || 445 || 111 || 3.2 || 2.2 || 13.3 || 5.3 || 18.5 || 4.6 || 4
|- style=background:#EAEAEA
| scope=row | 1985 || || 3
| 21 || 56 || 36 || 210 || 72 || 282 || 77 || 2.7 || 1.7 || 10.0 || 3.4 || 13.4 || 3.7 || 4
|- class=sortbottom
! colspan=3 | Career
! 332 !! 915 !! 722 !! 6017 !! 1357 !! 7374 !! 1505 !! 2.8 !! 2.2 !! 18.2 !! 4.1 !! 22.3 !! 4.5 !! 202
|}
Head coaching record
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Home and Away Season !! colspan="5"|Finals
|-
!Won!!Lost!!Drew!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Drew !!Win % !! Result
|-
!COLL||1986
||12||7||0||||6th out of 12||—||—||—||—||—
|-
!COLL||1987
||7||15||0||||12th out of 14||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!COLL||1988
||15||6||1||||2nd out of 14||0||2||0||.000|| <small>Lost to Melbourne in Semi Final</small>
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!COLL||1989
||13||9||0||||5th out of 14||0||1||0||.000||<small>Lost to Melbourne in Elimination Final</small>
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
!COLL||1990
||16||6||0||||2nd out of 14||3||0||1||||<small>Defeated Essendon in Grand Final</small>
|-
!COLL||1991
||12||9||1||||7th out of 15||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!COLL||1992
||16||6||0||||3rd out of 15||0||1||0||.000||<small>Lost to St Kilda in Elimination Final</small>
|-
!COLL||1993
||11||9||0||||8th out of 15||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!COLL||1994
||12||10||0||||8th out of 15||0||1||0||.000||<small>Lost to West Coast in Elimination Final</small>
|-
!COLL||1995
||8||12||2||||10th out of 16||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-
! colspan="2"|COLL total||122||89||4|||| ||3||5||1||||
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!BRI||1999
||16||6||0||||3rd out of 16||2||1||0||.667||<small>Lost to North Melbourne in Preliminary Final</small>
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!BRI||2000
||12||10||0||||6th out of 16||1||1||0||.599||<small>Lost to Carlton in Semi Final</small>
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
!BRI||2001
||17||5||0||||2nd out of 16||3||0||0||1.000||<small>Defeated Essendon in Grand Final</small>
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
!BRI||2002
||17||5||0||||2nd out of 16||3||0||0||1.000||<small>Defeated Collingwood in Grand Final</small>
|-! style="background:#FDE910;"
!BRI||2003
||14||7||1||||3rd out of 16||3||1||0||||<small>Defeated Collingwood in Grand Final</small>
|-! style="background:#fdd;"
!BRI||2004
||16||6||0||||2nd out of 16||1||1||0||.599||<small>Lost to Port Adelaide in Grand Final</small>
|-
!BRI||2005
||10||11||0||||11th out of 16||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-
!BRI||2006
||7||15||1||||13th out of 16||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-
!BRI||2007
||9||11||2||||10th out of 16||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-
!BRI||2008
||10||12||0||||10th out of 16||—||—||—||—||—|—
|-
! colspan="2"|BRI total||128||88||3|||| ||14||4||0||||
|-
! colspan="2"|[https://afltables.com/afl/stats/coaches/Leigh_Matthews.html]||250||177||7|||| ||17||9||1||||
|-
|}
Honours and achievements
Playing honours
Team
- 4× VFL premiership player (): 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983
- 2× Minor premiership (): 1971, 1975
- 2× Night Series Winner (): 1969, 1977
Individual
- VFLPA MVP Award (Later named the Leigh Matthews Trophy): 1982
- Coleman Medal: 1975
- All-Australian team: 1972
- Hawthorn Captain: 1981–1985
- 8× Peter Crimmins Medal: 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982
- 6× Hawthorn leading goalkicker: 1973, 1975, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
- Australian Football Media Association Player of the Year: 1982
- 2× Victoria Australian rules football team: 1972, 1975
- Australian Football League Team of the Century
- Hawthorn Football Club Team of the Century
Coaching honours
Team
- AFL Premiership coach (): 1990
- 3× AFL Premiership coach (): 2001, 2002, 2003
Individual
- 4× Jock McHale Medal: 1990, 2001, 2002, 2003
- 3× All-Australian team: 2001, 2002, 2003
- Brisbane Lions Team of the Decade (1997–2006)
Hall of Fame/Life membership
- Australian Football Hall of Fame – Legend Status
- Hawthorn Football Club Hall of Fame – Legend Status
- Collingwood Hall of Fame (1990 premiership team)
- Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame
- Queensland Hall of Fame – Legend status
- Hawthorn life member
- Brisbane Lions life member
Post-career honours
Matthews was named "Player of the Century" and inducted as an inaugural official Legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, the highest individual honour that can be bestowed upon a football personality. He was also named in both the AFL and Hawthorn teams of the century, in the forward pocket for the AFL and as rover for Hawthorn. In 2002, the AFLPA MVP award, of which Matthews was the inaugural recipient, was renamed the Leigh Matthews Trophy.
Matthews is one of only four Australian rules footballers recognised as a Legend of Australian Sport in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, alongside Ron Barassi, Ted Whitten and Bob Skilton.
Outside football
Before coaching the Brisbane Lions, Leigh Matthews made several media appearances as guest commentator. He since returned to perform special commentary of AFL matches on the Seven Network. Matthews commentated throughout the 2008 finals series as well as in the 2008 grand Final. He is also a commentator of the game for 3AW and a feature writer and commentator for the Herald Sun. He moved to Channel Nine in 2024 before leaving at the end of that year to move to Fox Footy in 2025.